Council Hears Cost of Repairs to Storm Water Management System

Repairs to the storm water management system could cost the city up to $17 million for just two areas of the city, depending on the level of flood protection the city chooses to provide.

The heard details at its meeting last night in a presentation about the cost as part of an analysis of the city’s storm water management systems by Graef, a consulting firm.

The areas for which cost estimates were given included areas along Meadowbrook, University and Northview roads, in the neighborhoods of Pebble Valley and Rolling Ridge, in the far northwestern part of the city.

One of the objectives of the storm water management project is to determine a level of protection that the city will provide to all of its residents during extreme rainfall events. The next step in the process will be for the common council to choose the level of flood protection for the city.

The highest level of protection, estimated at $17 million, would entail both major and residential streets being passable during an extreme rainfall event, defines as a 6-inch rainfall over 24 hours, the likelihood of which is minimal but not inconceivable with a one percent probability of occurring.

A moderate level of protection, estimated to cost $16.5 million, would mean major streets are passable but residential streets would be passable only by emergency vehicles. The lowest level of protection, costing an estimated $16 million, would entail major and residential streets passable only by emergency vehicles.

Another goal of the storm water management project is to evaluate alternatives and recommend solutions for the other identified neighborhoods of the city with unacceptable storm water flooding with the final goal as identifying additional areas of the city with unacceptable storm water flooding.

Alderman Kathleen Cummings commented on the analysis, suggesting a long-term view of the cost.

“If we’re going to dig a hole and lay a pipe, it would make sense to buy the biggest pipe and do it once. When there’s property damage … is it really less expensive over the course of 75 years?” she said.

Randy Videkovich, water resources engineer at Donohue & Associates, Inc. working on behalf of Graef, said that there was a cost of doing nothing or doing a minimal amount of work to the storm water management system.

“Exisiting conditions, if you don’t do anything, you still have the damages of flooding to the homes, disruptions to the community, when that occurs, so there is a cost or consequence if you take no action or minimal action,” he said.